Mathematica (company)

Mathematica was founded by Princeton University professors in 1969 and had a multi-faceted history.[1]

  • It did consulting work, mostly "to develop mathematical models for marketing decision making."
  • a leading developer of state lottery systems
  • developer of RAMIS

Early day participants
  • Oskar Morgenstern, economist; one of the company's founders (1969)
  • Tibor Fabian, Mathematica's Hungarian-born president (1980s)
  • William Baumol and William Bowen: economists, early day participants

Divisions
  • Mathematica Policy Research - the only unit still carrying the Mathematica name.
  • Mathematica Products Group - best known for developing RAMIS
  • MathTech, the company's technical and economic consulting group - "research projects and computer systems other than Ramis."[1]

A quarter of a century after Mathematica's founding, it "was largely owned by a group of professors in Mathematics and Economics at Princeton University ... as this group aged, they opted to cash out by selling." The result was a 3-way split:
two units became employee-owned companies and another was sold several times.

Mathematica Products Group

In 1982, Mathematica Products Group's RAMIS was described as "nonprocedural" and "bordering on artificial intelligence."[2] This unit of Mathematica was purchased by Martin Marietta Corporation in 1983,[3], and, eventually[4] by Computer Associates.

The RAMIS product sold well, initially on mainframes[5], subsequently on PCs.

Mathematica Policy Research

The Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) unit's strength was in "social experiments and surveys."[1] In 1983 MPR reported "a major survey assignment for the American Medical Association."

In 1986 it became a separate, employee-owned company.

MathTech

Like MPR, in 1986 MathTech became an employee-owned company. Known today as Mathtech, Inc.,[6] it was described by The New York Times as "a Washington-area educational consulting firm [7]

References
  1. Karen W. Arenson (February 22, 1983). "MATHEMATICA'S SHIFT INTO SOFTWARE FIELD". The New York Times.
  2. "Mathematica, Inc". February 24, 1982.
  3. "RAMIS II, PC Unison". Computerworld. September 9, 1985. p. 6.
  4. including after ownership by On-Line Software International
  5. including 40 AT&T licenses, and other known-name companies
  6. "Mathtech Inc. was originally formed as the Strategy and Consulting arm of Princeton-based professional services firm Mathematica, Inc." "History".
  7. James Barron (November 8, 1987). "Learning The Facts of Life". The New York Times.
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